Everyone is welcome at Worcester, whatever their background, education or experience. We work alongside young people, teachers and families to support students from backgrounds under-represented at Oxford: whether it’s raising aspirations about Higher Education, or helping them make a successful application to the University.
We believe that the education we offer should be available and accessible to all with the ability and potential to benefit from it. We champion equality of opportunity and access to the University for the most academically able students, and work with teachers and potential applicants to enable young people with a passion for learning to make informed choices about their futures.
Between 2021 and 2023, 85.7% of our successful UK applicants were educated at state schools – the second highest intake in the University. Almost a quarter of our successful UK applicants were admitted from less advantaged areas (ACORN categories 4, 5, 6) and areas with low progression to higher education (POLAR quintiles 1 and 2), while 30% had Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic heritage.
We believe that this diversity is reflected in our academic excellence. We continue to seek to raise aspiration and ambition among groups that are currently under-represented at high-tariff universities, and select the very best applicants based on academic potential, regardless of their ethnic, social, religious or educational background. To do this we offer a range of formal and informal engagement and outreach activities, including school visits, College-based residentials, and University and online events. These activities are designed to give pupils an opportunity to learn more about university life, and we are particularly keen to encourage those with little or no experience of sending applicants to Oxford.
Our outreach & admissions team
Senior Tutor
Dr Helen Parish
Dr Helen Parish
Senior Tutor
Governing Body Fellow
Education
MA (St Andrews), DPhil (Oxford)
Helen Parish joined Worcester from the University of Reading, where she was Professor in Early Modern History and Head of School in Humanities. Her academic work is focused on the history of belief, broadly understood, including the European Reformations, church and clergy, alongside debates over superstition, magic, witchcraft and the supernatural, and the connections between religion and natural history. As Senior Tutor, she is responsible for the strategic planning and oversight of the College’s academic activities, and for undergraduate admissions.
My research and teaching explore the history of belief, broadly understood, in the late medieval and early modern period. This includes the history of the European Reformations, church and clergy, as well as ideas about magic, witchcraft and the supernatural, and the connections between religion and natural history.
Understanding the multiple lenses through which the world was viewed in this period enables us to ask informed questions of the past, and interrogate the broad range of evidence and ideas that have shaped the world around us today.
My own research is informed by my training as a historian, but also by the multi-disciplinary approaches to the past that have shaped the study of early modern history. Early projects and publications focused on the Reformation in England and Europe, including debates over clerical celibacy and marriage, miracles, the lives of the saints and their relics, and concepts of authority in the post-Reformation churches. Co-editing a collection of essays on ideas about superstition in the era of the Reformation encouraged me to explore further the often permeable boundary between religion and belief, writing on magic and priestcraft, witchcraft and familiars, and the reading and writing of natural history.
Senior Admissions Officer & Tinsley Outreach Officer
Zoe Campbell
Zoe Campbell
Senior Admissions Officer & Tinsley Outreach Officer
Zoe leads the work of the Access and Admissions teams, overseeing the undergraduate admissions process and outreach with schools and prospective applicants.
Admissions & Outreach Officer
Lily Morris
Academic Office Assistant
Poppy Moulis
Visit Oxford
Are you a teacher or advisor in West Yorkshire? Find out more about what we offer to visiting school groups and how to book one of our events for your students.
Outreach at Worcester
Resources for applicants
What’s the best way to read more about your favourite subject? How can you demonstrate your enthusiasm in your personal statement? Explore our resources for prospective applicants and their supporters.
Upcoming events
